TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Shinsuke Yamanaka defended his WBC bantamweight title with an unanimous decision over Australia’s Vic Darchinyan on Friday.
Yamanaka overpowered his opponent in the late rounds at Tokyo International Forum in his first defense of the title he won by beating Mexico’s Christian Esquivel in November 2011.
The judges scored the bout 117-111, 116-112, 116-112 in favor of Yamanaka, who improved to 16-0-2 with 11 knockouts. Darchinyan dropped to 37-5-1 with 27 KOs.
Darchinyan attempted a desperate comeback in the final round, but was unable to cause any damage to the champion who had plenty of energy left.
